Crude glycerin is the principal byproduct of biodiesel/HVO production via esterification or hydrotreatment, typically 80% glycerin by mass with methanol, salts and minor impurities. Green Star Bio, as a broker, matches supply and demand for crude glycerin, connecting biofuel plants with downstream refiners and industrial users.
As a companion product of expanding biofuel capacity, crude glycerin supply is highly correlated with UCO/HVO output, making it an important high-volume item in our closed-loop by-product line. We match batches by purity and salt content to the buyer's end use, and coordinate shipment and documentation.
When we broker this product, our desk monitors the parameters below to match grade to your process, destination and sustainability needs.
| Glycerin content | ≥ 80% |
|---|---|
| Methanol residue | Confirmed per lot |
| Salt content | Confirmed per lot |
| Moisture | Confirmed per lot |
| Appearance | Brown viscous liquid |
| Source | Biodiesel / HVO plants |
Values shown are typical reference ranges. Contract specifications for each lot are confirmed before shipment and may vary by origin and grade.
A glycerin refiner needs crude glycerin at 80%+ purity in bulk, with moisture and salt profiles confirmed per lot.
A biodiesel plant generating crude glycerin seeks refiners and oleochemical buyers on regular contracts.
Tell us your grade, volume and destination. We confirm specifications per shipment and arrange the documentation your sustainability programme requires.
Crude glycerine is the co-product of biodiesel and oleochemical production. Every tonne of biodiesel leaves roughly a tenth of a tonne of glycerine, and the price of that co-product is one of the variables that decides whether a biodiesel plant makes money. Crude glycerine at about 80% purity is the form that leaves the plant before refining.
Because it carries methanol, water, salts and free fatty acids from the transesterification process, crude glycerine is bought on assay rather than on grade name. Glycerol content, matter organic non-glycerol (MONG), ash, water and methanol are the numbers that matter, and methanol in particular is a hazard and regulatory issue as much as a quality one.
The main destinations are refining into pharmaceutical or technical grade glycerine, use as a carbon source in fermentation and biogas, animal feed, and — where the specification allows — direct industrial uses such as antifreeze, dust suppression and cement grinding aid.
Commonly around 80% glycerol, with typical trade ranges from roughly 80% to 88%. Anything above about 95% is normally called technical or semi-refined rather than crude, and pharmaceutical or USP grade glycerine is 99.5% or higher.
Matter organic non-glycerol is everything organic in the sample that is not glycerol — free fatty acids, soaps, esters and residual methanol. High MONG makes refining more expensive and lowers the yield of refined glycerine, so it is one of the main price adjustment drivers.
It usually does, typically a few percent depending on how well the plant recovered methanol. Methanol content is a safety, shipping and regulatory issue as well as a quality specification, and most buyers set an explicit maximum.
Chiefly biodiesel plants using vegetable oil, used cooking oil or tallow as feedstock, and oleochemical plants splitting fats. Supply therefore follows biodiesel production, which means European, Indonesian, Malaysian and South American output dominates.
Mainly as feedstock for refining into 99.5% plus glycerine, but also directly as a carbon source in fermentation and anaerobic digestion, in animal feed, and in industrial applications such as dust suppression, de-icing and cement additives where colour and odour are not critical.
